I was delighted to receive the news, several weeks ago, that I had won a copy of Super Natural Every Day from The Kitchen Illiterate. Since receiving the book, I’ve been cooking from it quite a bit, as well as finding myself inspired by it while doing my food shopping. (“Yellow split peas? I think there are a couple of recipes for those in that new book!” “I should probably be keeping quinoa and bulghur on hand…” “How could we possibly be out of miso? To the Japanese store, posthaste!” Sometimes I talk to myself in an old-timey fashion.)

I’ve made mention of the book a few times on Seasonal Market Menus, my other blog devoted to CSA eating and menu planning, because the recipes are great for using whatever vegetables you happen to have around, given a few pantry staples. I certainly haven’t followed any of the recipes to the letter, but that doesn’t stop them from being a fantastic source of inspiration. Like this soda bread:

I’d never really considered soda bread as a legitimate thing before, but Heidi’s photos convinced me to give it a try. I substituted leftover pickle brine for half of the buttermilk in the recipe, to no ill effect. The dough was delightfully springy, and any rye bread that doesn’t insist on caraway is a good thing in my book. It baked up nice and crusty, with a slightly biscuity or scone-like texture in the crumb. The bread resisted staling longer than a yeast bread would, which is good because the loaf was huge. We ate it for almost a week, and then I took the remaining half and turned it into some of the crunchiest croutons I’ve ever made.